Stories for March 18th 2011

Recovering 250 cruise vessel calls a year, --as in 2006 and 2008--, is the Chilean government target with the bill it has sent to Congress which would authorize Chilean and foreign flagged vessels to operate their on board casinos while sailing in territorial waters, currently specifically banned.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff said that Barak Obama’s visit this weekend strongly consolidates the perception that Brazil “could be an important partner” for the United States, during a press interview.

Brazil stands on the brink of becoming an agricultural superpower and is one of the few countries in the world with the climate, technology, farming practices and the sheer quantity of land to be able to satisfy the surging global appetite for food in the coming decades.

South America’s largest and most modern cruise terminal, Quinquela Martin, developed and operated by global port operator DP World Dubai Ports), was inaugurated this week by the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner , together with Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman, DP World.

By President Barack Obama
In recent weeks, we've seen how turmoil and tragedy around the globe can affect our own prosperity and security; how events abroad often have implications for everything from markets on Wall Street to families' wallets on Main Street. And as a nation, we will continue to do everything we can both to promote stability and democracy in the Middle East and help the people of Japan recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The fourth round of European Union/Mercosur negotiations for a trade agreement concluded in Brussels Friday with no major advances which could be a setback for the original plan to have a deal sealed by the end of the year.

United States President Barack Obama called his British and French counterparts on Thursday and the three agreed Libya must comply with a new U.N. Security Council resolution, the White House said.
Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also agreed that violence against the civilian population of Libya must cease.

Argentina’s powerful truck drivers’ union called for a strike to be held on Monday to show their support to the head of the CGT Labour confederation, Hugo Moyano and his family that are being investigated in Switzerland for alleged money laundering.

Disappointed and shocked with the self-centred performance of President Cristina Kirchner at the G-20 summit in Washington in 2008, a group of powerful countries seriously considered kicking Argentina out of the industrialized and emerging countries’ Group of Twenty.